March 12, 2004

EU Bans Canadian Poultry On Bird Flu

The European Union banned the import of poultry products from Canada on Thursday following the confirmation of an high pathogenic strain of bird flu in British Columbia, the European Commission said in a press release.
 
The ban, which includes all live poultry, poultry meat and products, eggs and pet birds into the E.U., is in effect until April 6. The Commission will review the ban March 22 and take further action as necessary, it said.
 
The outbreak was confirmed March 9 by the Canadian Food Inspection Authority.
 
Commission officials say the public health risk of this AI strain is probably inferior to the Asian strain. According to the CFIA, both low and high pathogenic forms of the H7N3 virus have been found on a farm in the Fraser Valley.
 
"This ongoing testing indicated that the virus was in the process of changing from low to high pathogenic in these younger birds," said a Canadian agency official in a CFIA statement.
 
The farm was placed under quarantine Feb. 18, all infected birds were culled and disposed of Feb. 20, and CFIA established an active surveillance program, the CFIA statement said. The farm will remain under quarantine until cleaning and disinfection is complete.
 
The E.U. imported EUR10.5 million in hatching eggs from Canada in 2003, about one third of all hatching eggs imported into the E.U., according to the E.U. Commission.